Using a word association test for the assessment of high school students' cognitive structures on dissolution

Derman, Ayşegül; Eilks, Ingo

doi:10.1039/c6rp00084c

Cited by 40 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 44 publications

(88 reference statements)

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“…The term 'knowledge structure' is subsequently used in this paper, as the authors believe that the term best represents the structures that the study aimed to visualize. Studies that use 'structural knowledge' focus on how conceptual understanding is structured as the interrelationships between concepts and related terms are made (Liu & Ebenezer, 2018), which is also our understanding of knowledge structures (Derman & Eilks, 2016). Learning can be interpreted in this means as the formation and transformation of knowledge structures by integrating new information and experiences, which can affect the knowledge structure as a whole.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Word Association Tests (WATs) were originally suggested by Johnson in the 1960s (Johnson, 1967(Johnson, , 1969 and recently became a common tool in science education research. WATs try to map concepts in student understanding and their interrelations to form knowledge structures (Bahar & Hansell, 2000;Derman & Eilks, 2016;Nakiboglu, 2008;Schizas, Katrana, & Contribution to the literature • The difficulty of understanding chemical concepts has been studied widely in the literature; however, a few researchers have investigated the relationship between students' performance in general chemistry courses and their knowledge structures, which are difficult to visualize. This study is one of the very few studies that utilized two programs, Gephi and JPathfinder, in a way that made the structures rich and easy to understand.…”

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The WATs seem to be a robust method that can reveal hidden relationships among closely related concepts, no matter how disconnected they might appear at the surface (Gulacar, 2014;Isa & Maskill, 1982). Examples in chemistry education can be found, e.g., on chemical equilibrium (Maskill & Cachapuz, 1989), atomic structure (Nakiboglu, 2008), acids and bases (Şendur, Özbayrak, & Uyulgan, 2011), decomposition (Schizas et al, 2013), dissolution chemistry (Derman & Eilks, 2016), or physical and chemical change (Yildirir & Demirkol, 2018).…”

Section: / 12mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Exploring Cluster Changes in Students’ Knowledge Structures Throughout General Chemistry

Gulacar

Milkey

Eilks

2020

EURASIA J MATH SCI T

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Chemistry is traditionally perceived as difficult to comprehend. Its mastery requires that a variety of concepts be linked to form an organized knowledge system. The connections need to be made not only between the concepts associated with the macroscopic level of the chemistry triplet but also between the submicroscopic and symbolic levels. Many factors influence a learner's success in bridging concepts between these levels. In this study, the aim was to identify and examine the changes in general chemistry students' knowledge structures by utilizing Word Association Tests. Although many studies have examined knowledge structures and aspects of the chemistry triplet, almost none has considered both at the same time. This study highlights the interconnectedness between the chemistry triplet and changing knowledge structures in overall student populations and in high-and low-achieving students. It provides insights on why students fail to understand chemistry and suggests ideas for future research as limiting factors were noted.

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Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Theoretical Frameworkmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: / 12mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Exploring Cluster Changes in Students’ Knowledge Structures Throughout General Chemistry

Gulacar

Milkey

Eilks

2020

EURASIA J MATH SCI T

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“…WAT is a technique which is used to reveal the concepts and the associations between concepts in students' minds, also can be used at the beginning and/or end of the learning-teaching process for identification purposes in determining readiness and for diagnostic purposes in monitoring conceptual change and development (Hastürk, 2017). Studies in the literature also point out that WAT is a technique usable in determining prior knowledge and in evaluating teaching as a pre-test and post-test, or in determining misconceptions (Ercan, Taşdere, & Ercan, 2010;Demircioğlu, Vural, & Demircioğlu, 2012;Derman & Eilks, 2016;Nakiboglu, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive Structures and Misconceptions with a Thematic Framework: The Case of Chemical Bonding

Şen

Varoğlu²,

Yılmaz

2019

Journal of Education and Future

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This study aims to investigate undergraduate students' cognitive structures and determinate misconceptions about chemical bonding phenomena. On the other hand, the study achieves to recommend an alternative technique for the evaluation of Word Associations Tests (WAT). The study was carried out with the participation of first year studens; 141 from engineering faculty and 73 from medical sciences faculty of a foundation university in the spring semester of 2017-2018 academic year. WAT about chemical bonds prepared by the researchers was used as a data collection tool. Content analysis were used to analyze the data. The students' responds to the key words given to them were divided into themes and cutoff technique was used according to the themes distinguished. In this context, students' cognitive structures related to chemical bonds were determined within the framework of themes. It has been determined that the students' WAT results regarding to chemical bonding, which supported with concept maps within the framework of the themes, provides convenience in determining the misconceptions because of reflects the concepts and the relationships between the concepts more clearly. In consequence, it is suggested that the new technique of evaluation recommended could be used in prospective studies.

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“…In literature, word association tests were implemented in relation to various learning fields in order to reveal cognitive structures [2,3,11,13,14,15,16,27,28,32,33,34,35,41,42,43,50,52,53], to identify misconceptions [4,16,28,42,50], to reveal conceptual alterations [7,8,16,37,39], to determine the effect on readiness [21], to determine perceptions [17], and to determine the level of conceptual correlation [29,40] of students. Despite the fact that a large 2182…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Cognitive Structures of Turkish Pre-servise Teachers in Relation to the Concept of Light

Şadoğlu¹

2016

ujer

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As learning is a product of the interaction between certain concepts which are already present within an individual's mind, it is becoming increasingly important to determine the cognitive structures in relation to these concepts which are present within the minds of students. It has been said that the word association test, which is a technique that discloses the cognitive structure, provides an opportunity to evaluate the structure of connections between the creations of knowledge within the minds of individuals. This also includes the question as to whether these connections are considered logical or not. The goal of this study is to examine the cognitive structures of primary school Turkish pre-service teachers in regards to the concept of light. This also happens to be one of the basic concepts of science, by means of the word association test. The sample group within this qualitative research study was comprised of 35 pre-service teachers, who were all in the process of studying at the 3rd grade in the Department of Primary Education. The sentences formed by each of the pre-service teachers in regards to the concept of light were evaluated in terms of the categories developed by Ozata-Yucel & Ozkan (2015). Whilst the pre-service teachers generally associated the concept of light to the concepts of the sun, stars, light bulb, illumination, energy, light refraction, velocity of light, artificial light source, linear road, electricity, lamp and the moon, it was determined that the concept of light was to be related to the individual source and nature of light.

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Using a word association test for the assessment of high school students' cognitive structures on dissolution

Cited by 40 publications

References 44 publications

Exploring Cluster Changes in Students’ Knowledge Structures Throughout General Chemistry

Exploring Cluster Changes in Students’ Knowledge Structures Throughout General Chemistry

Cognitive Structures and Misconceptions with a Thematic Framework: The Case of Chemical Bonding

The Cognitive Structures of Turkish Pre-servise Teachers in Relation to the Concept of Light

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